Sony CEO: Pokemon Go a 'Game-Changer'
Sony CEO believes Pokemon Go is a game changer in the video game industry Polygon reports.
Talking with the Financial Times, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said it is benchmarking Nintendo's unprecedented success with Pokémon Go in mobile gaming using it as a guide for Sony as it also aggressively gets into mobile gaming.
In March this year, the Playstation Company established ForwardWorks Corporation, which will create apps for mobile devices based on PlayStation games and characters.
"It's quite a shift from being just a console-based business to being on mobile phones as well," Hirai told the Financial Times at the IFA consumer electronics expo in Berlin.
Sony Hirai's words once again highlight the paradigm shift of major console makers to mobile device gaming.
Nintendo had been stubbornly resistant for years to investor and fan demands to enter mobile device gaming, but finally relented this year with Miitomo, a social networking app, and then with Pokémon Go.
Nonetheless, Nintendo is only a part owner of the company, Niantic, that publishes the game, not its sole publisher or developer, and the Pokémon Go Plus premium device it will sell for the app has yet to hit shelves. This implies that Nintendo has not fully jumped into mobile device gaming with two feet yet.
"Sony has had a handheld presence since the PlayStation Portable launched 12 years ago, and dabbled in platforms like the PSP Go and its Xperia line of smartphones. Its mobile device presence, however, has been limited to things like companion applications for the PlayStation Network and titles like Run Sackboy! Run! which apply Sony franchises to standard mobile game genres like endless runners," according to Polygon.
